Benjie and the elegant Filipino
Published Jan 14, 2018 12:05 am
By AA Patawaran
Video by Samuel E. Abad and Angelo Alejandro
Photos by Camille Ante, Manny Llanes, Noel Pabalate and Pinggot Zulueta
The invite said “Thanksgiving,” a dinner concert at the Maynila Ballroom of The Manila Hotel in honor of Benjie Yap’s birthday, but it might as well have been a toast to the future, in which all things Filipino are a source of pride and joy.
The celebrant is a collector of excavated gold artifacts, antique porcelain, furniture, weaves, and all beautiful crafts and products found or made in the Philippines. It was to the pleasure of his guests, led by terno-riffic Imelda Marcos, that the Philippines and its many treasures had not escaped his eye for beauty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn2Z-aGB9G4&feature=youtu.be
Let’s start with the venue: The Maynila Ballroom, a vision of National Artist for Architecture Leandro V. Locsin, whose native touches of handcarved narra arches five meters high, Tiffany bay windows in variegated colors, and capiz shell chandeliers sparkling like jewels from an Arabesque canopy make it as good a place as any for the grandest, most memorable occasions, especially as, flanked by two indoor fountains, you make your grand entrance down a grand staircase to the ballroom.
At last Sunday’s dinner concert, the dress code was a nod to Filipino costume, indicated in the invitation as “Elegant Pilipino.” The guests—Baby Arenas, Edna Camcam, Fermin Reyes, Rachy Cuna, Gina de Venecia, Louie and Mellie Ablaza, Nikki Coseteng, among them—turned up in modern Filipiniana, barong Tagalog, baro’t saya, traje de mestiza, Maria Clara dresses, kimona, patadyong, the terno gown of course, and the occasional colonial wear reminiscent of, say, the traje de flamenco and, among the men, the Amerikana, all of which either harked back to the glory of the Filipino past or pointed toward a future in which, as Filipinos, we hope to fully and proudly embrace our history, heritage, customs and traditions, and our identity.
At the six-course thanksgiving dinner, Benjie treated the guests with the staples of their fondest memories of home, starting with lumpia or fresh spring roll of heart of palm in both traditional and chimichurri sauce and clear chicken coconut soup or chicken binakol served in a buko shell. There were three mains, bangus belly with ampalaya in vinegar, oxtail and tripe in peanut sauce or kare kare, and oven-roasted lechon baboy set with skin crispy on top of paella rice. Dessert was simple yet reminiscent of long, lovely summers in the country—ube ice cream and macapuno.
The after-dinner performances pushed the evening’s theme to higher ground. The winners of the World Championships of the Performing Arts held in Los Angeles in September and October last year—Cristiani Rebada, Nolo Lopez, Kelly Guanco Garcia, Decena Madonna, Reinz Fernando—serenaded the guests with the gems of Original Pilipino Music, such as Sharon Cuneta’s “Ikaw,” Basil Valdez and Tillie Moreno’s “Umagang Kay Ganda,” Celeste Legaspi’s “Saranggola ni Pepe,” Pilita Corales’s “Maalaala Mo Kaya,” and one of only two English songs performed through the evening, Joey Albert’s “Points of View,” lyrics by Benjie’s good friend, Freddie Santos, the evening’s master of ceremonies. “Ngayon at Kailanman,” also a Basil Valdez hit and Benjie’s favorite Filipino ballad, capped the concert.
Among the other highlights of the evening was the presentation of the birthday cake, a multi-layered masterpiece designed by internationally renowned architect, designer, and stylist Manny Samson, a regular at Benjie’s most intimate, most personal milestones. It rose to the sky not only in terms of its height, but because it was designed as a 3D Magic Projection Cake, its lights mimicking fireworks and fire in the sky.
To end the evening, the children from the House of Refuge Foundation, Inc., each of them also dressed in Filipiniana, went up the stage to give thanks to Benjie, who founded the House of Refuge over 30 years ago. The foundation, of which Benjie is the chairman, is one of the seven institutions out of thousands upon thousands ever to be awarded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development the Level 3 category, the highest category that can be attained by any institution in the country. It is also “the first Level 3 accredited institution for residential care for older children” in the Philippines.
It was a night to remember, not only because it was a toast to Benjie’s beautiful heart, but also a toast to all that beauty that is ours, the beauty that is Filipino, the beauty of the Philippines.
The invite said “Thanksgiving,” a dinner concert at the Maynila Ballroom of The Manila Hotel in honor of Benjie Yap’s birthday, but it might as well have been a toast to the future, in which all things Filipino are a source of pride and joy.
The celebrant is a collector of excavated gold artifacts, antique porcelain, furniture, weaves, and all beautiful crafts and products found or made in the Philippines. It was to the pleasure of his guests, led by terno-riffic Imelda Marcos, that the Philippines and its many treasures had not escaped his eye for beauty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn2Z-aGB9G4&feature=youtu.be
Let’s start with the venue: The Maynila Ballroom, a vision of National Artist for Architecture Leandro V. Locsin, whose native touches of handcarved narra arches five meters high, Tiffany bay windows in variegated colors, and capiz shell chandeliers sparkling like jewels from an Arabesque canopy make it as good a place as any for the grandest, most memorable occasions, especially as, flanked by two indoor fountains, you make your grand entrance down a grand staircase to the ballroom.
At last Sunday’s dinner concert, the dress code was a nod to Filipino costume, indicated in the invitation as “Elegant Pilipino.” The guests—Baby Arenas, Edna Camcam, Fermin Reyes, Rachy Cuna, Gina de Venecia, Louie and Mellie Ablaza, Nikki Coseteng, among them—turned up in modern Filipiniana, barong Tagalog, baro’t saya, traje de mestiza, Maria Clara dresses, kimona, patadyong, the terno gown of course, and the occasional colonial wear reminiscent of, say, the traje de flamenco and, among the men, the Amerikana, all of which either harked back to the glory of the Filipino past or pointed toward a future in which, as Filipinos, we hope to fully and proudly embrace our history, heritage, customs and traditions, and our identity.
At the six-course thanksgiving dinner, Benjie treated the guests with the staples of their fondest memories of home, starting with lumpia or fresh spring roll of heart of palm in both traditional and chimichurri sauce and clear chicken coconut soup or chicken binakol served in a buko shell. There were three mains, bangus belly with ampalaya in vinegar, oxtail and tripe in peanut sauce or kare kare, and oven-roasted lechon baboy set with skin crispy on top of paella rice. Dessert was simple yet reminiscent of long, lovely summers in the country—ube ice cream and macapuno.
The after-dinner performances pushed the evening’s theme to higher ground. The winners of the World Championships of the Performing Arts held in Los Angeles in September and October last year—Cristiani Rebada, Nolo Lopez, Kelly Guanco Garcia, Decena Madonna, Reinz Fernando—serenaded the guests with the gems of Original Pilipino Music, such as Sharon Cuneta’s “Ikaw,” Basil Valdez and Tillie Moreno’s “Umagang Kay Ganda,” Celeste Legaspi’s “Saranggola ni Pepe,” Pilita Corales’s “Maalaala Mo Kaya,” and one of only two English songs performed through the evening, Joey Albert’s “Points of View,” lyrics by Benjie’s good friend, Freddie Santos, the evening’s master of ceremonies. “Ngayon at Kailanman,” also a Basil Valdez hit and Benjie’s favorite Filipino ballad, capped the concert.
Among the other highlights of the evening was the presentation of the birthday cake, a multi-layered masterpiece designed by internationally renowned architect, designer, and stylist Manny Samson, a regular at Benjie’s most intimate, most personal milestones. It rose to the sky not only in terms of its height, but because it was designed as a 3D Magic Projection Cake, its lights mimicking fireworks and fire in the sky.
To end the evening, the children from the House of Refuge Foundation, Inc., each of them also dressed in Filipiniana, went up the stage to give thanks to Benjie, who founded the House of Refuge over 30 years ago. The foundation, of which Benjie is the chairman, is one of the seven institutions out of thousands upon thousands ever to be awarded by the Department of Social Welfare and Development the Level 3 category, the highest category that can be attained by any institution in the country. It is also “the first Level 3 accredited institution for residential care for older children” in the Philippines.
It was a night to remember, not only because it was a toast to Benjie’s beautiful heart, but also a toast to all that beauty that is ours, the beauty that is Filipino, the beauty of the Philippines.